It’s an evening in July, and the train on the Inland Railway is making its way into Jokkmokk. This is an area known for its stunning nature and rich Sami history. The Jokkmokk Winter Market is one of Swedish Lapland’s strongest brands, but you have 24 hours of non-winter to do something exciting. So: what to do in Jokkmokk, now that you’re here?

Evening: You check in to Hotell Akerlund just after eight in the evening and pocket your room key before cutting across the road to restaurant Krog Lokal. From the terrace part of the restaurant, you can see some well-known Jokkmokk landmarks: Wästfelt’s Photo and cinema Bio Norden. A bit further up the street, looking west, you see StoorStålka’s designer shop by the square. A future landmark.

Your starter is an elk tartar, followed by Arctic char and it’s a such a delight that your glass of Pinot Noir can be refilled. As you leave the restaurant for an early evening, you walk up towards StoorStålka; there’s a piece of art on the square that has caught your eye. Indeed: Anders Sunna, who just had an exhibition at La Biennale in Venice, made the installation.

Afternoon: A lunch at Krog Lokal would definitely have been a good idea, but since you want to visit the Sami Mountain Garden and then Ájtte – one of only two national museums outside Stockholm – you choose to have lunch at the restaurant at Ájtte. The bright room used to be the entire museum space, but since then the museum has expanded to become what you can see today.

Ájtte has an exciting exhibition on Sami nomadic life and is a good introduction to World Heritage Laponia, but above all, Ájtte has an amazing exhibition on Sami handicraft. It’s a world-class permanent exhibition. You could spend days here, but must move on to see the Mountain Botanical Garden. The garden is also a perfect introduction to Laponia, to the national parks Badjelánnda, Muttos, Sarek and Stuor-Muorke.

You walk around the garden, amazed by the frugal beauty of the barren landscape that the staff have created and nurtured. You also look at polar researcher Axel Hamberg’s cabin that was brought here from Sarek. The house was originally built in sections and transported into the mountains, its walls insulated with cotton wool. Deary me that’s cold, you think, stood there wearing jeans.

Packing up: The Inland Railway continues north to World Heritage Laponia. If you’d have stayed longer, visits to Kvikkjokk and Årrenjarka would have been on the list. Porjus and its hydroelectric power plant helped lay the foundation for Swedish welfare as the ore was extracted from the mine in Kiruna. Today this area is part of a Swedish green transition, and a debate about what it really means. In this sense, Jokkmokk will never be old or forgotten. You’ll be back.